


Phan - Survivor AU

by superbcandyangel



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-19
Updated: 2016-09-26
Packaged: 2018-05-14 22:55:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5762035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superbcandyangel/pseuds/superbcandyangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil Lester is on Season X of Survivor, he meets Dan Howell and I am bad at summaries</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1 - Day 1

Chapter 1 - Day 1

The warm water splashed into the boat, getting my shorts wet as I and 17 other people rowed toward the beach of Koh Rong, Cambodia. I heard a few people behind me grunt in dissatisfaction as they were subjected to the same treatment. My gaze darted over to the canoe beside mine. It was filled with 4 people who all looked as though they were willing to unscrew your head with their bare hands if you blocked their path. Most of them probably could.

I averted my eyes from the intimidating muscular people to find that my scrutiny fell upon a tall boy in front of me who was wearing a Muse t-shirt. He had hair the color of chocolate and cut in a mirror image of mine. His skin was fair; by no means was it as pale as mine, but in comparison to the Greek gods in the other boat he appeared pallid.

I felt someone prod me sharply in the back, startling me into realizing that my hands had grown idle. Hurriedly, I resumed my paddling until we reached the shore. We departed the canoes, ambling onto our respective colored mats. My heart was racing.

Jeff Probst stood confidently before us, squinting against the glare of the sun, "Welcome," he said, "to Survivor: Koh Rong. You have been divided already into your two tribes: the yellow, Armoh, and the green, Kavu. Your first decision as a tribe is who will be the leader. This person protects the interests of the tribe. I'll hand out pens and paper; based solely on what you've observed of their body language, vote on one person."

I looked around at my tribe. I was mildly heartened by the fact that the Muse boy was among them, arms crossed loosely across his chest as he, too, studied the people around him. Dragging my eyes away from him, I examined each of the contestants in turn. One young woman was fiddling with her green bandanna, batting her eyes at the man beside her. He seemed enthralled by her. I turned to the older gentleman beside him. He held himself with an assuredness I admired in a representative. I decided I would be writing his description on the parchment.

"Who do you think would lead your tribe well?" Jeff asked of the Armoh tribe. Most had voted in favor of a tall, tan guy whose name, I found out, was Greg. I made a mental note to be wary of the man. His posture implied confidence, and his smile betrayed a plan.

Our host made his way over to our tribe, "Kavu tribe, who will be your leader?" he pointed to a short, stocky man at the edge of the small crowd, "Sava, who did you pick?"

"The man with the gray beard and blue jacket," Sava had a slight Bulgarian accent.

"That would be Josh. Nick, what about you?"

A sizable man in a green shirt responded, "Josh, as well."

"That's two for Josh," Jeff noted. He continued to survey the group, with the aged fellow receiving the majority of the tribe's votes. I discovered that the Muse boy's name was Dan. He was British, like me, and rather eloquent. This was an attribute which would be immensely helpful to him if he made it to the final three. I wouldn't have to worry about that for about 35 days, however, so I decided to approach him after we got to camp.

"Your first decision as leader," Jeff's voice snapped me out of my thoughts, "is who is going to participate in our first challenge."

My heart dropped. I knew I would be of very little help if this was a physical challenge. I scanned the structure briefly, taking in the least possible areas of the trial and hoping to every god of every religion that I didn't get chosen.

Thankfully, Josh picked the 7 that weren't Dan and I. We were sent to sit on the bench with the two others wearing yellow bandannas. Dan glanced uncomfortably at the Herculean people and promptly sat as far away from them as possible, forcing me into the middle. I realized my opportunity to form an alliance with the boy and made the immediate decision to act upon it. As I turned to talk to him, however, I made the error of looking into his eyes. They were pools of deep sienna, sparkling in the blazing afternoon sunlight. I felt my heart beating faster, pounding inside my chest as my mind changed course rapidly. We had been staring at each other for several seconds, what seemed like an eternity to be lost in those eyes, before he spoke.

"Yeah?" he inquired. It took me a moment to remember that I'd tapped him.

I hastily altered what had once been a carefully planned conversation, "I- I was just going to ask what album was your, um, favorite?" I stammered, "I saw you were wearing a Muse shirt and I like them too and... Yeah."

Wow. Very articulate, Phil, well done. I inwardly slapped myself, but Dan just smiled softly as he replied, "I like The Resistance. What about you?"

"I like that one too. I'm Phil, by the way," I said timidly, feeling warmth spread to my cheeks.

"Dan. Nice to meet you."

"You too," I smiled nervously, swiftly turning to watch our tribe compete as Jeff began to narrate loudly.

"I didn't expect Alyssa to be so good at this," Dan said to me after the girl who'd been flirting with Sava solved the puzzle almost immediately after the rest of the team arrived at that part of the challenge. We groaned as a yellow banner was raised, however, broadcasting the fact that Armoh had won.

Congratulations were exchanged as we regrouped to watch the host award flint and steel to the yellow-clad athletes. We traipsed empty handed to our designated camp area.

\---

While the rest of the Kavu tribe built an elevated raft for us all to sleep on, Dan, Alyssa and I attempted to make a fire. We failed miserably until I realized I had my glasses with me. I broke the loathed eyewear with little regret; I had detested having to wear glasses since first getting them. I noticed Dan's brown eyes flickering between the spectacles and my face, biting his lower lip. I tore my gaze away from his mouth. Focus, Phil. I saw smoke rising from the bundle of dry grass and quickly began to add kindling. Alyssa started gently fanning oxygen towards the pile until a small flame appeared.

We celebrated briefly before adding more wood. A large structure had been erected in the corner of the camp. It was surrounded by all of our belongings, and above it was a makeshift tarp of woven leaves. I and several others saw that it was growing dark, so the tribe decided to call it a night.

They rest of the tribe had fallen asleep, but I could make out the silhouette of a certain tall Muse fan beside me, watching the horizon. I stared at him in silence for a while prior to sitting up and accompanying him in doing so. The moon was just beginning to rise. I could feel his gaze move to me for a few moments before he slumped down. I didn't emulate him until I heard his breathing become slower and more relaxed, indicating dormancy. Upon hearing this, I curled up next to him. His steady breath lulled me to sleep.

 


	2. Chapter 2 - Day 2

Chapter 2 - Day 2

I rose groggily to find myself very close to a black Muse t-shirt. My heart began to race as I carefully extracted myself from the vicinity of a particular devastatingly attractive tribe member. Our unconscious forms had somehow meandered toward each other in the night. I let out a breath I hadn't known I'd been holding. My body was suddenly very cold as Dan's warm frame was no longer sharing it's heat with mine.

At a glance, I figured it must be about 4:30 in the morning, judging by the sky. Not knowing where to go, and having quite a bit of time before the rest of the Kavu tribe awoke, I decided to look for idols. I wandered through the trees surrounding our primitive trundle, inspecting every rock and branch. I found nothing and saw the sun tinging the sky with various shades of orange, so I hurried back to camp. I was relieved to see 8 dormant people when I emerged from the forest. I slipped silently back onto the wooden platform.

I didn't have to wait long before a few early birds arose from dreamland. One figure walked over to the fire and prodded it with a stick until the dim embers relit the fire. The flames licked at the air, illuminating the person's face to reveal that it was Josh. Pleased with his work, he yawned and made his way toward the sea to catch a few crabs for the tribe's breakfast. I followed suit after watching him for a minute.

The waves washing over my ankles were tepid. I successfully attained 4 crabs before the tribe leader spoke, "Hi, Phil."

"Hi," I responded, waving with the hand that wasn't filled with crab corpses, "It's nice of you to wake up early to do this."

"Someone needed to, and I was chosen to be leader," he said, scratching his gray hair. I felt a surge of respect for the man before me.

\---

We carried a few crabs back to the Kavu tribe, who were just beginning to rise. I allowed the cooking of the crabs to be done by those more apt to do so. I saw that one person still lay there, fast asleep. I walked over to Dan.

"Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey!" I shook him awake, laughing, "Well, crab and rice, actually."

He rolled over, groaning, "Too early."

My eyes discreetly roamed over his body as he stretched. A small area of fair skin was revealed under his black shirt. I sighed internally, closing my eyes. I grabbed his arm and dragged him toward the rest of the group, trying not to pay attention to the softness of his flesh. Dan followed me, mumbling halfhearted protests but otherwise putting up no fight.

We were each given a small coconut shell of rice and crab. I admired my tribe members' skill at cooking. My eyes flitted to the faces of every person, thinking about who I wanted an alliance with based on what little I'd discovered thus far. Alyssa and Dan seemed to be a given. Josh would be ideal, obviously. Sava appeared to be on good terms with Alyssa, and I hoped she could coax him into voting with us if need be. Nick, however, was glaring at me as he muttered to the women beside him. I met his gaze solemnly until it faltered.

We chatted lightheartedly until one of the cameramen told us to leave for the immunity challenge. Kavu ambled our way back to the challenge site, a parade of green bandanas. Dan's bandana caught my eye, tied around his neck just beneath his umber hair. I felt a slight twinge in my lower abdomen as I imagined scrunching that hair in my hands, late at night in a cheap motel room. I shook my head to clear it. I needed to concentrate on the game, not on fantasies about my tribe members.

"Come on in, guys!" Jeff exclaimed enthusiastically. He proceeded to launch into an explanation of what we would be doing, "For today's immunity challenge, 5 members of each tribe will race over a series of obstacles in order to obtain 5 keys. These keys unlock 5 different pieces of a puzzle, which the 4 remaining members will work together to solve," I watched the cameramen run around, getting footage of the course, "First tribe to finish wins immunity."

A few people whooped as he uncovered a vaguely menacing statue, "This is the tribal immunity idol. Having this at your camp means that neither you nor any of your tribe is going home. Tonight, the losing tribe goes to Tribal Council and one person will be the first person voted out of this game. Everyone take your spots, we'll get started."

I and the rest of the Kavu tribe prepared ourselves for the obstacle course ahead of us. I looked to Jeff, waiting for him to say the familiar phrase.

"Survivors ready?" he affirmed, "GO!"

I sped over the obstacles, hastening to get to the platform. Upon arrival, I waited for Sava to bring the key to me so I could unlock the first puzzle piece. My legs were beginning to hurt after coming down from the adrenaline rush. I quickly elicited a green wooden plank with the top half of a word painted on it in white. I smirked to myself, hearing the rest of my tribe join me on the platform. I knew how to solve this.

I placed the plank at the top of the designated space as Alyssa, Dan, Josh, and Nick brought their pieces over. I saw the realization dawn on their faces and they each put the wooden planks in their appropriate places to spell out, "OUTWIT, OUTPLAY, OUTLAST". A green flag emblazoned with our tribe name was raised when the last piece fit into place, and the rest of the Kavu tribe began to cheer.

"Kavu tribe wins immunity!" exclaimed Jeff, presenting Josh with the idol and Alyssa with flint and steel, "You are safe, tonight, from tribal. Armoh, I've got nothing for you, but I will see you tonight at tribal council. Grab your stuff, head back to camp."

Nine elated people walked back to our camp, carrying the prosopopoeia of each of our survival in this game for a few more days.

\---

"Nice job with that puzzle, by the way," a soft British voice congratulated me as we struck the flint toward the small pile of sticks. The rest of Kavu was busying themselves with embellishing the makeshift mattress or telling their stories to the camera.

I glanced over at Dan, "Thanks. It's really the only thing I'm good at in this game. I'm a disaster in the physical aspect of it."

He laughed at that, a darling little chuckle that I wanted to hear for the rest of my life, "I'm the same way. You're looking at literally the unfittest person on the planet."

"I'm in the running to take that title," I grinned. My heart was going into overdrive, just talking to the gorgeous boy. A sudden eruption of sparks interrupted our conversation, drawing our attentions back to the more pressing matter of the fire. We admired our handiwork after jumping back simultaneously from the initial shock. The rest of the tribe migrated to surround the campfire. I ate my rice in silence, stilly noting who was growing closer with whom.

When the others went to go to bed, I stayed by the fire for a while. I indexed the cliques that seemed to be forming: there was Nick and the two girls, then there was Alyssa, Dan, and I, and finally Josh, Sava, and the other woman were unclear of their affiliations. I took some comfort in my surmise of the alliances within Kavu.

Looking over my shoulder at the slowly undulating forms of 8 sleeping contestants, I sighed. I focused on the dimly lit frame of Dan, smiling covertly. I had literally seen sparks as I fell more profoundly for him.

 


	3. Chapter 3 - Day 3

Chapter 3 - Day 3

I woke up to a muted fire still faintly crackling in the darkness. Knowing that I probably wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, I visually explored my surroundings. The night sky was speckled with stars. The silhouettes of trees hindered the full panorama of the billions upon trillions of individual lanterns in the tiny fraction of the universe that was visible to the naked eye, but this created a beautiful semblance. I sighed, a sense of comfort and wonder washing over me as I realized how few people could see the stars in the clarity that I could at that moment.

My train of thought was interrupted by the languid movement of a tall, attractive, and unconscious British boy beside me. I froze, my heart pounding more forcefully as Dan rolled closer to me. Despite the sounds of the waves and the crickets, I could hear his Muse shirt chafing between his torso and the wood. As my eyes adjusted, my attention was taken by the empty space in the middle of our crude futon. I counted the sleeping forms before me and realized that Nick and Alyssa were gone.

A small sob from the beach area was barely audible. Before I could get up to investigate, Alyssa ran onto the scene. Her tear-streaked face was dimly lit by both the moon and the smoldering remains of the fire. I leapt from the warmth of Dan's proximity to comfort her without a second thought. I had no clue how I was to do so, but my conscience wouldn't allow me to sit there and do nothing. I hurried over to her, completely apathetic to my bare feet in my endeavor to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

"What's wrong?" I asked in a hoarse whisper.

Her shoulders were shaking under the arm I'd flung around them in an effort to calm her, "It- It's nothing, really," she sniffed. She looked up at my face, seeing my brow furrowed in concern, "Nick took me aside to talk to me about an alliance. I was thinking about it, actually, 'cause he's bonded with a few other people here. But then he said something that just, it reminded me of my mother. She's in the hospital right now. If I win, I want to use the money to pay off the bill. And- And I just realized that every day I'm here is a day I can't spend with her."

I pulled her whimpering form closer to me, her tears dampening my shirt. Alyssa sniffed loudly. I brought her back over to the wooden pallet, assuring her that she would feel better after a few hours' rest and that if anything happened to her mother that they would let her go back to her family. She nodded, smiling sheepishly at me and laying down. I returned to my spot beside Dan and slipped back into a restless sleep.

\---

I was shaken from my slumber by a pair of large, strong hands. I could hear a bit of quiet chatter from the rest of the Kavu tribe members. A smiling face with vividly brown eyes and a messy fringe hovered above me, the sun behind him casting a seraphic glow. I was not sufficiently awake for this kind of assault. I sleepily rolled over onto his hand, which I hadn't known was there.

Dan chuckled, "Revenge."

He forced me into a sitting position before I was towed the short distance to the fire. Even in my half-asleep state, my heart still did a flip as he thoughtlessly intertwined our fingers. A coconut shell of rice was placed into my hands after I was plopped down next to Alyssa. Memories of the previous night (or the wee hours of the morning, more likely) came flooding back and I glanced at her, analyzing her emotional state. Upon seeing that she appeared to be moderately cheerful, I turned my attention back to Dan, who had taken a seat beside me and was now looking at me in an appraising way.

"You look tired," he said matter-of-factly. His expression softened into one of mild concern, "Not much sleep last night?"

I shrugged, "I'm used to it."

"So am I, doesn't mean it's healthy," he grinned, "Especially in a game like this."

"I'll keep that in mind," I replied. His russet hair was becoming vaguely wavy, his cheeks tinged with pink. I wondered if they were as soft as his hands were. They were probably softer. I realized I was staring and promptly busied myself with my portion of rice.

Dan was quiet for a moment before he spoke again, "Have you noticed that little cliques are already forming? I mean, we haven't been threatened with tribal council yet but Nick is already recruiting Hannah and Kayin. We both sort of gravitated toward Alyssa after we made the fire together."

"Yeah, I noticed that," I agreed, recalling last night's events.

A previously unannounced cameraman suddenly came up behind us and pulled Dan away. I watched them vanish into the trees, wondering what he would be divulging to the camera and later to the audience.

\---

Minutes later, I felt a hand on my arm. I looked up quickly, wondering if Dan had taken a different route to return to camp. Instead I saw Josh, motioning for me to follow him. I set down my now empty bowl and stood up to accompany our tribe leader into a more secluded area of trees, glancing back to ensure no one took much notice of our leaving. Nick was once again gone, presumably rationalizing his actions to the future audience. No one else appeared to find us worthy of their regard, so I turned and allowed him to escort me into the trees.

"Phil," he said when we had found a sufficiently isolated spot, "I noticed you were becoming friendly with Dan and Alyssa."

I was uncomfortably aware of the cameraman filming our interaction, "Uh, yeah," I verified.

"I realize that tribal council is hopefully not soon, but I wanted to know where you stand on who might not be pulling their weight around camp or in challenges. You seem to be the type who would notice that sort of thing."

In truth, I hadn't thought about this. Thus far, I'd simply assumed that everyone had been doing their part. However, as I thought more about it, I became aware of the fact that I hadn't been paying much attention to what the other members of Kavu had been doing while we'd built the fire and solved the puzzle. I resolved to be more attentive in the future. "I don't want to throw anyone under the bus this early on in the game. I just know that you, Dan, Alyssa, and I have been contributing our shares to the wellbeing of the tribe, I can't really speak for the others."

Josh nodded, running a hand through his gray hair, "Okay. We should probably get back. They might be missing us."

With the cameraperson trailing behind us, we returned to find that everyone was just finishing their meals. I was astounded by the seemingly endless amount of lighthearted topics of discussion these people appeared to possess, hearing a few scattered sentences about Hannah's dog.

I took a seat beside Dan once again. He wasn't particularly invested in the energetic tale of Hannah's Pomeranian. His gaze was fixed on the rolling waves, but his stare was blank. I contemplated him for a moment, wishing I had a camera to capture the way the light hit his cheekbones as the sun commenced its descent from its peak in the sky. I wondered what he was thinking about.

His eyes flicker over to me, catching me staring. Heart pounding, I blinked rapidly and turned back towards the group, pretending to be immensely interested in whatever they were talking about. I could still feel his eyes boring into the back of my head. When I glanced back to affirm the sensation, I was met with his warm chocolate eyes, his calm stare enrapturing me.

"What did Josh want?" Dan asked abruptly, breaking eye contact and looking intently at nothing in particular.

"He was just asking about who hadn't really been doing their part," I replied.

"Huh," he muttered. He looked back up to study me with apprehension in his eyes, "What did you say?"

"I was honest. I advocated for you, Alyssa, and myself, but I haven't been paying attention to the others and I let him know as much."

Dan nodded, lips pursed as if debating his next sentence, "For, um, future reference, I've noticed that Sava hasn't really been doing much. In case Josh asks you again."

I looked behind him at the Bulgarian man, who had chosen to retire to the cool shade of the shelter, "Thanks," I acknowledged.

His tongue darted out to absentmindedly lick his lips, eyes once again turned to the horizon. I was about to turn away when I heard him humming quietly. Recognizing the song to be Butterflies and Hurricanes, I joined in. Dan glanced at me and, gaining confidence, began to murmur the words. We sat there for a while, admiring the setting sun and chuckling at each other's attempts at imitating Matt Bellamy's falsetto.


	4. Update coming soon - Sorry for the wait

Sorry for the long hiatus; I've been working on various smaller projects that I'm not confident in publishing yet. The next chapter is really long though, so hopefully that will make up for it. I won't be posting incredibly often because of school and personal issues but I'll try and keep working on this.


	5. Chapter 4 - Day 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to update - a lot of things have been happening lately. Anyway, here it is.

Chapter 4 - Day 4

"So who do you think we should vote out, when the time comes?" Dan whispered to me, wary of the rest of our tribe asleep beside him, "I mean, I say 'when' because let's face it, we aren't exactly fit compared to the members of Armoh. You're intelligent, but they have the advantage over us in strength."

I was grateful for the darkness as it hid the blush covering my pale cheeks at his compliment, "Thanks, you're pretty smart yourself. To answer your question, I was thinking about how you told me Sava hasn't really been doing a lot. But Alyssa seems to be on good terms with him, and it's best to have people who are already partial to you if you want the majority of the vote in your favor."

I glanced over at him to gauge his reaction, "I suppose you're right. So who needs to go, then?" he inquired.

"I mean, Kayin hasn't been doing much either," I muttered, rolling over a bit toward him. He was facing the canopy of leaves above us, his already dark eyes almost black in the shadow. A small inclination of his head prompted me to elaborate, "She didn't help us with the fire, she only really contributed a bit of the weaving of the canopy, and she doesn't seem to be willing to vote with us."

Dan nodded, turning his head to observe the sleeping form of the girl. He shifted onto his side to face me. I tried to avoid looking at the camera as I waited for his response.

He brought a hand up to comb through his fringe. I attempted to be subtle as I admired his long fingers. His hands were large, but they suited him well. The hand slid down to cover his face, "I don't know," Dan groaned, "I don't think anyone here really deserves to be voted out."

"Yeah," I agreed, "I've been avoiding thinking about who should go home. I don't know many of them well enough to justify their elimination."

His hair fell into his face, and I struggled not to reach out and fix it for him. He nestled into his bag, which he was using as a pillow, seemingly prepared to sleep. It was a few moments before I heard him speak again.

"Phil," Dan murmured, "What did you do when you found out you were going to be on Survivor?"

Although my eyes were growing heavy, they opened at the sound of his voice. I sighed and smiled as Dan's question brought to my mind the memory of the day I received the information.

"I screamed," I chuckled softly, watching his grin widen, "I called my mum, my dad, brother, whole family really, with the news. I was absolutely thrilled. My mom was really happy that she'd get to see me on TV."

Dan was smiling gleefully now, "What about you?" I asked, "How did you react?"

He gazed up again at the woven canopy, watching visions of the past behind his radiant sienna eyes with a serene smirk, "I was in a shop, and I got the notification that they replied to my email. At first, I expected it to be a generic 'You and 50 million other people didn't get chosen. Soz.' kind of email. But I read it anyway, and when I saw that I was being congratulated, my heart both popped out of existence and was doing flips inside my chest. I didn't know who to tell first so I," he giggled, "I ran over to the shopkeeper and showed him the message and told him I was going to be on Survivor. He didn't really know what that was, but he seemed excited for me anyway"

Dan rolled onto his back, "We should probably get some rest, there's a challenge tomorrow."

"Goodnight Dan," I said, doing the same.

"Goodnight Phil."

\---

Waking up to find that the image of the log platform I'd been sleeping on had been indented into my cheek was not my ideal start to the day. Neither was being dragged, by the green bandana I'd tied around my wrist, off of said log platform by Alyssa.

She thrust a hollowed out half of a coconut shell into my hands. I glanced down at the small pile of white rice contained within it, "Eat," she commanded, "We have to leave for the challenge in less than half an hour."

I hurried to obey. When I'd cleaned my bowl of all grains of rice, a hand was offered to me. My eyes met with a pair of warm brown ones as I accepted it and was assisted by Dan in standing up. His hand left mine all too quickly when we walked to the challenge area.

"Come on in, guys!" bellowed Jeff Probst. We filed onto our tribe's designated mat, watching Armoh do the same, "Kavu tribe, you are getting your first look at the new Armoh tribe. Theo was voted out in tribal council. Greg, how do you feel about your tribe's decision to eliminate a member so strong in the intellectual part of this game?"

Squinting against the sun, Greg answered, "I think that although it might not benefit our tribe at the moment, in challenges and whatnot, it will probably be best for us when we begin playing for ourselves and not for the group. Theo was a good player and he made it clear that he was already thinking about his individual gameplay, so most of us felt that it would be advantageous to vote him out preemptively."

"Looks like Theo wasn't the only intellectual on the tribe," I heard a voice mutter behind me.

"Are you guys ready to get to today's reward challenge?"

A chorus of yeses rang through both crowds before Jeff began to explain the activity, "For today's challenge, you're each going to see a series of objects. You will have 10 seconds to memorize these objects and the order of their appearance. You are then going to go to an empty table and place the same objects on it in the same order you saw them. The first tribe to have all of their displays accurate wins. Wanna know what you're playing for?"

Everyone affirmed that we did. Jeff held up two large burlap sacks, "The winning tribe will receive two sacks of beans," he paused to allow us to chime our enthusiasm, "This will better sustain your tribe, helping you stay strong for longer. Kavu, you have an extra member; who are you going to sit out?"

Hannah promptly raised her hand, "Me."

Jeff nodded, "Take your spots, we'll get started."

We were led to predesignated stations and positioned so that we were facing away from the tables. My eyes flitted around to the faces around me. Jeff had his hand held high above his head, waiting a moment before he signaled the start of the challenge. The camerapeople were turning their professional-looking equipment to get a dramatic pan of the competitors.

"Survivors ready?" the host affirmed loudly, "Go!"

I spun to face the table, behind which a woman stood. She placed a bottle green glass jar on my far left, with a coral colored clay vase and a humanoid idol following quickly after. She added a similar jar with a bit of twine tied around the top, and a metal saucer. I was allowed 10 seconds to memorize the sequence before dashing to the empty table and its accompanying box of seemingly arbitrary objects. I dug through the pile, searching for green jars. When I successfully extracted one, I rapidly slid it onto the table. A silver dish clattered upon the surface shortly thereafter.

Once all five items were on the table, I organized them into the order I recalled. As I placed the disk at the end, my heart dropped upon seeing that the second green jar had no string on it. I frantically foraged for it in the box. My hand brushed against a cord tied into a loop and I grabbed it, hurriedly slipping it onto the ribbed top of the container. I turned on my heel, looking to Jeff for confirmation that my display was correct.

The host gave a slight inclination of his head when he came to my station, telling me I'd set mine up accurately. I smiled victoriously before glancing at the rest of my tribe as they attempted to recreate their respective patterns. My gaze fell upon Dan, who was bent over searching through his box. His arse was fully visible, and blood rushed to several parts of my body as I hastily looked elsewhere.

"I didn't know you liked guys," muttered a voice beside me. Alyssa had also pivoted to face away from her table. Her lips curved into a smirk, "You're saluting him."

I blushed deeper and slid my hands down to cover the apparent bulge.

"I don't blame you," she continued, "He's pretty charming."

I was relieved to be spared from responding when Jeff announced that our tribe had won. He handed Sava the two burlap sacks filled with beans, congratulating us on our win. We walked back to our camp, with me trying desperately to conceal my arousal and Alyssa snickering behind me.

\---

"Hey, Phil," Kayin addressed me.

I paused, allowing the girl to swim closer to me. Although I was rather comfortably standing in the water near our camp, she was considerably shorter than I, "Hi."

"How do you feel about tribal?" she asked, "What with the, umm, latest challenge and all that?"

I considered this for a moment, assessing the probable outcomes of my options; if I told her we'd been considering voting her out, she would probably feel like it was a personal attack. I didn't know if I could live with lying to her though.

"I mean, I obviously would rather not vote anyone out. Honestly, I'm growing a bit attached to you guys," I said, only half joking, "But I suppose if we have to go to tribal, there are some I'm more interested in keeping than others."

She nodded enthusiastically, "I totally get it. I just wanted to run over some people's attributes, to get a second perspective on how various members of the tribe have been beneficial or detrimental to Kavu's welfare."

I chuckled, "I see that you're an English major like myself. Well, I've been looking at a few people, as I said," I plucked a crab from the rocks near me, being sure to hold it at the back so it wouldn't try to murder me, "For example, I appreciate that Hannah keeps up spirits around camp but she seems determined to do the least work possible, both in challenges and in terms of cooking and building and things of that nature."

"Yeah, I agree," Kayin mused, eyes focused on the crustacean in my hand, "She's a sweet girl, but she's been devoting herself more to securing a good position with seemingly powerful players than to actually helping the rest of us. Er, thanks for helping me sort through my feelings on the matter. You seem pretty levelheaded; I'd like to see you get to the merging of the tribes, I think you'd be a worthy adversary."

She began to walk away, stepping carefully as not to fall, "Oh, by the way," she called back, "I majored in engineering. I practically grew up in my town's library, though."

I smiled, setting the crab gently back down on the rock, "You live to see another day, little guy."

\---

Sat around the fire, telling stories and anecdotes about each of our personal lives was probably one of the most enjoyable ways we could've gotten to know each other. Josh felt that it would be good to do this early on, to make the next month much more bearable as we were going to be around each other for some time.

"So, who wants to start?" he asked.

Upon seeing everyone shrink awkwardly into themselves, Kayin sighed and chuckled, "This feels like a classroom. No students want to share anything about themselves ever. Well, in my engineering class a few years ago someone set up a bunch of hair dryers on the professor's desk so a paper airplane would fly around in a circle infinitely. Mr. Williams thought it was me and after a rather ambiguous session of yelling, he gave me extra credit for it. We never found out who actually did it but I think it was the guy who sat behind me. He'd been making various models of paper airplanes throughout the year, and he'd just made a particularly aerodynamic one the week before."

Everyone chuckled at that. "Hey, another engineering kid. Maybe we should team up in the next building challenge," Alyssa commented brightly.

"Maybe we should," replied Kayin, "So, who wants to share next?"

"I think we should be getting some rest; we can pick this up tomorrow," Josh announced, rising to his feet and brushing sand off of his cargo shorts.

Sava looked to the rolling clouds above us. "I think it's going to rain. Should we reinforce the shelter roof?"

"Nah, I think it's fine. It'll hold up well enough against a light shower," said Alyssa, confident in the woven leaves now above our heads.

\---

Drip.

Drip.

Drop.

"It'll be fine," she'd said.

"It'll hold up well enough," she'd said.

I was getting increasingly enraged with the concept of water itself when a shivering Dan beside me finally spoke. "Sorry, this is really weird and awkward but can you like cuddle up to me or something? I'm freezing my ass off here."

I smiled inwardly. "Yeah, of course. I don't know what made Alyssa think the leaves would hold up against the weather here. Like, I thought she'd actually seen the show before."

He chuckled and I, with moderate difficulty, slid closer to him. I held his cold, damp torso to my own. It felt comforting, the feeling of another body near my own during a time of such stress.

I felt him trembling from the cold, so I hugged him tighter. We fell together into a fitful, restless sleep.


End file.
